LAUSANNE, April, 7, 2025 - Honestly, the first Jamaican taste of the Grand Slam Track of athletics left me perplexed. The show was a little poor and the stadium had too many empty seats even if from the second day entrance became free. In the past not even Bolt managed to fill the large concrete basin of Kingston and this time it was sadly deserted.

THE FORMAT The format chosen by Michael Johnson has lights and shadows. Here he tried to make sure that the best champions challenge each other at least twice in similar, but different specialties, in two of the three days, a new “Duathlon”. The high-level competitive season has not yet blossomed therefore the results were, also due to the headwind on the final straight, rather normal and almost modest. The middle-distance races, over the 800 meters, were a little unwatchable, because the only driving force was the final cheque, the feeling was not there.

THE CLOU The direct clash between champions should be the central focus of athletics, but it has been neglected since the 1980s, when Carl Lewis and Ben Johnson opened the season of the unique challenge in the summer of meetings, but very expensive. In Kingston the winners of the athletic “Duathlon” cashed in 100,000 dollars, forty years ago Lewis and Johnson banked the same dollars even before running….

TV Television production was lower than expected. The commercials were unattractive. We were surprised by the fact that Eurosport in Italy did not broadcast the third day in the evening, not even delayed. It is a bad precedent. Let’s hope that in the next events of the Grand Slam Track the audience in the stadium and on TV can grow. 

THE DANGER The risk of betting will not bring anything good, indeed it risks opening the doors to very dangerous choices. Years ago some managers had already tried to launch a betting platform in athletics, but the then president of the IAAF, Lamine Diack opposed. Betting attracts the attention of an audience that has little to do with promoting sports.